1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dental X-ray image detecting apparatus for taking mainly an X-ray image of an object having a relatively small area, such as teeth or the like, and also relates to an adaptor for the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 23A shows an X-ray image detecting apparatus 1 disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication JP-A 8-280669 (1996). The X-ray image detecting apparatus 1 comprises an X-ray detecting element 2, an apparatus case 3 for housing the element, and a cable 4 connected to the element. In the X-ray image detecting apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 23A to 23C, the cable 4 is drawn out in the longitudinal direction of the apparatus case 3.
When an intraoral image is taken by using the X-ray image detecting apparatus 1, the longitudinal direction of the apparatus case 3 is set to be along with the direction in which teeth erect, i.e., the occulusal direction. Therefore, the cable 4 projects in the occulusal direction, and obstructs the positioning of the detecting apparatus in the interior of a mouth. When an imaging operation is conducted in an appropriate position while the cable 4 is projected in the occulusal direction, the subject to be diagnosed must open the mouth more largely than the longitudinal length of the apparatus case. This produces strain on the subject. Particularly in the case where a molar tooth portion should be imaged, even when the subject largely opens the mouth, the X-ray image detecting apparatus 1 may not be adequately positioned, whereby the imaging operation itself is impossible.
In the X-ray image detecting apparatus 1, since the cable 4 is connected and fixed to the apparatus case 3, the cable 4 is bent when a molar tooth portion is imaged, and the fixed portion is stressed, with the result that the inner conductors are easily broken. Since the cable 4 is integrated with the apparatus case 3, when the conductors of the cable 4 are once broken, the whole X-ray image detecting apparatus 1 must be replaced with another one. This is uneconomical.
JP-A 8-280669 also discloses another configuration of the detecting apparatus in which a face of the apparatus case 3 abutting against the imaging site is formed to be a curved face, and a soft resin is used as the material so that the detecting apparatus fits to an intraoral or dental arch shape. However, such a configuration cannot cope with different intraoral or dental arch shapes. In other words, intraoral and dental arch shapes are different not only between children and adults, but also between individual subjects. Furthermore, even in the same subject, the shapes of individual intraoral or dental arch portions are different. Therefore it is impossible to make the apparatus case 3 fit to all the intraoral or dental arch portions.